The invention relates to a device for assembling at least one item of equipment, such as a secondary heat exchanger, onto a primary heat exchanger, especially of a motor vehicle.
More particularly, it relates to such a device capable of being used when the said primary heat exchanger includes a tube manifold and a manifold chamber crimped onto the tube manifold, the periphery of the said tube manifold forming a groove for accommodating a sealing gasket between the tube manifold and the manifold chamber.
It is known to assemble one or more items of equipment onto a heat exchanger, such as a radiator for cooling a motor-vehicle engine, so as to constitute an assembly, also called module ready to be installed into the vehicle. One of these items of equipment may, for example, be a secondary heat exchanger, in particular a cooler of air for supercharging of the engine, an air-conditioning condenser or an oil cooler. Another item of equipment may, for example, be a fan shroud.
The assembling of these items of equipment onto the exchanger is generally achieved by way of lugs integral with the equipment and of screws inserted into the manifold chambers of the main exchanger. Systems for assembling by nesting or clipping of the manifold assemblies have also been proposed, in the case of two heat exchangers.
These known assembling techniques exhibit the drawback of requiring operations which are expensive in terms of time and of tooling.
The invention aims especially to remedy this drawback.
More particularly, the object of the invention is to provide a heat-exchange module the production of which, and especially the fitting operations, is as simple as possible.
To that end, the subject of the invention is first of all a device for assembling at least one item of equipment, such as a secondary heat exchanger, onto a primary heat exchanger, especially or a motor vehicle, the said primary heat exchanger including a tube manifold and a manifold chamber crimped onto the tube manifold, the periphery of the said tube manifold forming a groove for accommodating a sealing gasket between the tube manifold and the manifold chamber, the device comprising, on the one hand, first means for clipping onto the outside of the said groove, and, on the other hand, means for accommodating and locking the said item of equipment.
The fitting of the equipment onto the heat exchanger can thus be limited to simple clipping operations. This results in a simplification of the fitting of the heat-exchange module.
The crimping of the manifold chamber onto the tube manifold usually takes place by the use of teeth projecting from the edge of the groove, folded over onto a shoulder of the manifold chamber. In this case, the said first clipping means may comprise a set of lugs configured to bear on the outer surface of the groove, and at least one abutment configured to clip onto the edge of the groover between the projecting teeth,
In a first particular embodiment, the said accommodating and locking means comprise second clipping means complementary with an element of the said equipment.
In this case, and when the item of equipment to be assembled is a secondary heat exchanger, the said second clipping means may be complementary with a manifold chamber of the said secondary heat exchanger.
In a second particular embodiment, the said accommodating and locking means comprise a projecting part including cut-outs for accommodating fluid-circulation tubes of the secondary heat exchanger.
In this case, the said accommodating and locking means may comprise a locking hook which can be clipped onto a cheek of the said secondary heat exchanger.
A further subject of the invention is a heat-exchange module, especially of a motor vehicle, comprising a primary heal exchanger and at least one item of equipment, such as a secondary heat exchanger, in which the said item of equipment is assembled onto the said primary heat exchanger by the use of at least one device as described above.